


Rise to the Top

by Gamer_God



Category: Titanfall (Video Games)
Genre: What Was I Thinking?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:15:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26774980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gamer_God/pseuds/Gamer_God
Summary: I've never written stories so it might not be that good. I'm a huge Titanfall nerd so I started writing this. It takes place a few years after the events of Titanfall 2. The main character is a rookie Militia pilot named Julien. There's a side character as well. A rookie IMC pilot named Greg. I'll update the story but I don't have a schedule for it. Basically they're both gonna go on to be rivals and they'll become legends in their own factions.
Kudos: 2





	1. Rise and Shine

**Author's Note:**

> How the heck do you make non-generic character names? How do I write basic human interaction? I guess I'll just figure it out...

Sleep was already hard to get, let alone with flashing lights and blaring alarms. He wanted to close his eyes and go back to sleep, but that wasn’t an option. Not onboard the Jack Cooper, the Militia’s newest carrier. There was always something to do, and the crew rarely got time to relax.

Groaning, he rolled onto his side and let his feet fall to the floor. Rethinking his existence for a moment, he shook his head and stood up. It was cold in his room, as always. No windows, no decorations, and no colors. Just a plain metal box, with a door, a wardrobe, a table, and a bed. To any civilian, it would look like a prison, but to him, this was home.

Reaching out, he flicked a switch located by the door. The singular light on the ceiling lighting up his room. He looked around momentarily, as if to see something, but there wasn’t much to look at. Stumbling over to his wardrobe, he leaned forward and rested his head on it, still dizzy from waking up so fast.

Hearing footsteps outside, he turned his head to the door. This again? It was chaos outside. Everybody onboard was rudely awoken by the alarms that only meant one thing, and everybody was all too familiar with it. The God-Damn IMC are at it again…

The IMC, also known as the Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation. To put it simply, they had a habit of starting wars, burning towns, and slaughtering civilians. Judge all you want, but according to them, they owned the Frontier. After all, they did send the first expeditions here, but then they left. Problems back on Earth, and increasing demands from a rising population, forced the IMC to pull back from the Frontier. Thus the colonists were left to fend for themselves.

Decades later, the IMC turned back to the Frontier, and to their shock, the colonists had flourished. New colonies had been built, new generations had been born, and new resources and technology were developed. Now, that was great and all, but according to the IMC, the Frontier was theirs, and technically, the colonists belonged to them. Queue the arguments, the fights, one thing leads to another, and the IMC is now at war with the so called, ‘Militia’. 

Years of fighting, and millions of lost lives later, the Militia had gained the upper hand, but they hadn’t yet won. The IMC had taken some serious hits, but they wouldn’t back down. They still remained in control of the Core-Systems, which was Earth and the other habitable planets around it. The Core-Systems, as well as what they had in the Frontier, allowed them to keep a war going for decades. Meanwhile, the Militia was using what little they could make for themselves, and what they could take from the IMC.

Snapping out of his daydream, he took a step back and opened his wardrobe. He sorted through his clothes for a few moments before pulling out black shorts, and a plain grey shirt. It didn’t matter what he wore. The alarms went off for one reason only. If the IMC were nearby, then he would be changing into his pilot suit within the next few minutes. Slipping on some old socks, and worn out shoes, he rushed out the door, closing it behind him.

The hallways were crowded to say the least. Everybody onboard was awake, rushing to their stations. His destination was the briefing room. A wonderful place that slightly resembled a cinema where he got to see the IMC’s newest war crimes, as well as what could easily become a graveyard for both the IMC and the Militia forces. Oh, and for the civilians they slaughtered.  
Neatly filing into the rows, he took a seat and looked forward. A few of the officers up front were preparing for the briefing.

“You ready, Rookie?”, spoke a voice to his left.

He turned. To his left, a brown-grey haired man with a distinctive scar across his neck looked at him. He had seen the man before. He was a pilot as well, just older and more experienced.

“Eh, I guess I’ll find out…”, he replied uneasily.

“Just relax Julien, you’ll be fine.”, the man chuckled.

“Okay…”, Julien said, taking a deep breath.

“ATTENTION!”, screamed a voice from the front. Julien looked forward. The briefing was starting, and judging by the officer’s expression, it wouldn’t be a good one…

Just as Julien had expected, it wasn’t good. A few days ago, some Militia POWs escaped from their IMC captors. Now, these prisoners were rather important to the IMC, but the reasons for that were classified. What mattered was that they were gone, and the IMC couldn’t find them. Eventually, they turned their sights to a colony a few miles away from the last known location of the prisoners. Since these prisoners were important, and the IMC had tendencies to ‘kill first, ask questions later’, they had come to the conclusion that massacring the civilians in the colony was the solution.

Shortly after the IMC’s arrival, the Militia HQ received a distress call from the colony. At that time, the Jack Cooper was one of the closest ships to the colony, but the only one equipped to deal with the IMC. That’s when the alarms went off, and after the briefing, Julien found himself in the barracks.

The barracks consisted of two separate rooms. One resembled a locker room, while the other held a vast array of firearms and ordnance. A few other pilots stood around him, putting on their flight suits. Being the newest pilot, he was much slower putting his on. As the others left, he clipped some pouches to his vest, gave his jump-kit one last check, and followed them out with his helmet in hand.

Given the situation, everyone was rushing, barely giving Julien time to grab a Hemlock rifle, three spare mags, a sidearm, and two frag grenades from the armory. Rushing out of the room to keep up with the other pilots, they made their way to the titan bay. This is where the pilots got their name. They were no ordinary soldiers. They didn’t fly planes as many would assume. Rather, they operated titans.

Titans were large mech-suits, that were either self-controlled, or controlled by the pilot. Originally built for industrial work, standing at almost 20 feet tall, the titan quickly became the IMC’s favorite toy. Breakthroughs in recent technology had enhanced them even further. Standard titans were the Ion, Scorch, Ronin, Northstar, Tone, and Legion chassis, while the Militia had recently designed the Vanguard chassis, followed up by an IMC lookalike, the Monarch chassis.

Each chassis had it’s specific weapon and setup, while the Vanguard had been built specifically to be compatible with all types of setups and weapons. It was this versatility that helped the Militia gain the upper hand against the IMC. The only problem, however, was that Vanguards were expensive and hard to build. Because of this, only the most experienced Militia pilots could operate them. 

Julien immediately thought of Jack Cooper. A Militia hotshot who went from a standard grunt, to one of the most legendary pilots of all time in only a few weeks. It was him and his titan, BT-7274, who saved 50 million lives on the planet Harmony years before. Julien looked up to Jack, but he was a long way from operating a Vanguard like him, especially since this would only be his second combat mission. Snapping out of his daydream, he split off from the other pilots and made his way to his titan.

He stopped before it, glancing over his titan. It was nothing special. A standard Ion chassis with a few scratches here and there from his first mission. Although he had been in one combat mission before, he didn’t actually fight. He was simply told to ‘sit back, relax, and observe’, as the more experienced pilots took on the IMC. That had been weeks ago. He hoped this mission would be different.

Snapping out of yet another daydream, he slid his helmet over his head. He then stepped forward and began climbing up the titan. Up the leg, onto the hull, and in the cockpit. The seat wasn’t exactly comfortable, but you didn’t notice it. Pilots controlled the titan through a ‘neural link’. That meant that the titan was basically an extension of the pilot’s body. Moving as if it were the pilot’s own body. Sitting back, he recalled all of his training. More specifically, his training with the Ion chassis.

It differed from other titans because unlike the others, it didn’t fire projectiles. The Ion’s core produced much more power than the other titan chassis. That extra power was the Ion’s arsenal. The primary gun was the Splitter-Rifle. It had a moderate fire-rate, and instead of bullets, it’s shots were concentrated balls of heat, plasma, and energy. It had other tricks as well. A concentrated laser could be shot from a module on the Ion’s shoulder. In addition to that, the Ion chassis had a Vortex-Shield, which was an energy shield capable of catching projectiles and launching them back.

Because of its energy based loadout, it had no need for resupplies like other titans. However, it couldn't continuously fire like other titans. With a limited supply of spare power, it could only do so much before needing to back down and recharge. The chassis could also carry laser tripwires, but those took up lots of space, and required lots of energy to charge, so Julien left those out. Checking over the titan’s systems, he listened to the officer from the briefing room give one last briefing.

“Pilots…”, he yelled, ”Prepare for titanfall!” 

Julien smirked. Those words gave so much power. Titans weren’t brought to the ground by ships... They were dropped from the f**king stratosphere!


	2. First Contact

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Militia begin their attack on the IMC forces around the colony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rewrote this chapter after I decided that the first version was way to quick and that I hadn't added much detail or action. Chapter 3 is gonna be spicy. So yea. I wrote the IMC pilot (Greg) to be an unlikable and egotistical brat. Maybe we'll get some character development though...

Reaching over to the secondary control panel, Julien closed the hull, feeling the neural link take over, his body growing slightly numb. The cameras began streaming their feed into the cockpit for him to see. Looking around, he saw the other pilots close their own titans. He saw the officer running from the deck. The maintenance platform pulled back from his titan, and the floor below the titan bay opened. He sat back, not daring to look down.

Hearing the launcher charge up to give the titan an initial boost, as well as the dome shield getting ready to activate, he took one last look around, and closed his eyes. The sounds around him grew louder and louder until… Bzzz… His titan shot out of the ship at such high speed he could feel the blood in his body rushing to his brain. He kept his eyes closed for a bit longer, until curiosity got the best of him. He opened them and took in the view. 

The clouds were still miles below him, the ground even further. It was the middle of the day on this side of the planet, but he could still see the stars from this high up. He could see the other titans drifting apart in the sky so they wouldn’t damage each other upon landing. It felt like he was moving so fast, yet so slow at the same time. He was so focused on the sky, the clouds, the stars, that he almost forgot… The IMC are here, and they know we’re coming…

***

“All units. They’re here.”, said a voice over the radio. 

Heh, took ‘em long enough. Greg opened his cockpit, stepping out onto his titan’s hand. He took a look around at the fires burning throughout the colony. He looked at the burning pile of corpses, and at the 3 bodies of the escaped Militia prisoners hanging from the light pole. Looking up at the sky, he saw them. From the ground, it looked like a bunch of meteors entering the atmosphere, but he knew… The Militia… Reaching to the side of his helmet, he held down a button. 

“All units. I see eight titans and five drop-pods. Drop-ships are most likely inbound.”, he said, pulling his hand away from his helmet.

“Understood. Thanks rookie.”, said another voice over the radio

Greg scowled. He hated being called ‘rookie’. If it weren’t for the damn higher-ups, he’d have been promoted by now. But no. He was supposed to sit back and let the older pilots do all of the work. Not today… He stepped back into the cockpit, closing it and resuming control of his titan. Today, he was gonna show them.

***

Julien took one last look around as his titan AI voice began to count down.

“Impact in 3… 2… 1... “

The impact violently shook his body as his titan hit the ground. Julien took a moment to breath after the landing had knocked the wind out of him. Glancing up, he saw two other titans begin to stand. Their dome shield lowered as they stepped back. Urging his titan to do the same, he stood up, stepped back, and took another deep breath. Turning his titan, he saw smoke rising over the tree line. They were probably too late, but they couldn’t just leave. He went over every possible outcome he could think of. He was deep in thought again, when suddenly… CRACK! 

The sound made him jump in his seat as one of the titans in front of him staggered. A railgun! Another crack. Sparks and metal scrap flew from the titan as it collapsed. His radio began to explode.

“Where did that come from?!”, one voice yelled.

Can anyone see it?!”, asked another.

He reached up to his helmet and held down a button. “All units, one friendly titan down. Railgun shots from behind the tree line, watch out!”, he spoke, trying to sound confident. Honestly, he was terrified. Titans weren’t easy to bring down, even with another titan, but two shots? A blue flash caught the corner of his eye. A Northstar! Above the trees, in the distance, he saw a Northstar chassis hovering, the distinctive star-shape of its boosters, ready to take another shot. He staggered back as a railgun bolt screamed past his titan. 

“Rookie, get behind the ridge!”, a voice yelled over his radio.

Julien complied, rushing towards the ridge where the other titans were. The Militia had chosen an area with rough terrain for their drop-zone. They had cover here, but not much. They’d have to deal with the Northstar to reach the colony. The Northstar chassis was lightweight and slim, designed to be able to hover momentarily to catch enemies by surprise. With a high-powered railgun capable of dealing heavy damage to titans from long ranges, they were forces to be reckoned with.

He lowered his titan below the ridge as another railgun bolt whistled past. A titan stood up next to him, a Tone chassis. The Militia didn’t have a Northstar chassis with them, so a Tone was the next best thing. Equipped with a 40mm cannon and tracking rockets, it could keep the Northstar down momentarily. It took a large step and slammed its foot down, releasing a large, disk-like device from its foot. Taking a step back and narrowly avoiding a railgun bolt, the disk emitted a flash, and the Particle-Wall went up. The Particle-Wall was a one-way wall of energy, allowing projectiles from one side to pass through, while blocking projectiles from the other side.

Another railgun bolt was fired, slamming into the wall. The wall transitioned from a light blue to a slight yellow, a sign that it had taken damage. The Tone raised its cannon and fired a 3-round burst. A flash could be seen over the tree line, and the IMC titan backed down, falling below the trees.

“Nice shot!”, Julien said over the radio.

“Jealous rookie?”, the pilot teased.

Julien chuckled. Maybe he was. The Ion chassis wasn’t exactly built for long range engagements. However, in a close-quarters fight, an Ion was sure to overpower a Tone.

“All units, the enemy Northstar is down. We should push left and gain control of the hills.”, the Tone pilot said.

The Militia forces began to advance to the hills on the West side of the colony where they would have a good vantage point. Two titans and a grunt squadron stayed behind with the pilot injured by the Northstar. The remaining five titans and four grunt squadrons moved to take the hill. They took the hill with ease, and now controlled the hills to the South and West of the colony, while the IMC controlled the fields to the North and East, as well as the colony itself.

Now that they had good positions surrounding the colony, the Militia forces called reinforcements, knowing well that there would be lots of IMC forces in and around the colony. Julien watched as the dim lights in the sky became sixteen fireballs landing all around them. Ten more titans, and six more grunt squadrons. The titans consisted of four Northstar chassis to provide support for other friendly forces. In addition to that, three Scorch chassis, and three Ronin chassis were requested to help take control of the colony. Both of these chassis had loadouts suited for close range combat.

The Scorch chassis was focused on one thing. Fire. It carried a launcher capable of launching large rounds of thermite, as well as flammable gas traps. For defense, it was equipped with a Flame-Shield. A shield of fire that could incinerate anything that touched it. It was slow and ugly, but lethal and effective.

The Ronin chassis was much different. It was fast and slim, and it had quite a few tricks. Its weapons were the Leadwall shotgun, and a sword. Some pilots opted to ditch the shotgun, as it was bulky, and lacked range. The sword was easily capable of immobilizing a titan in a single swing, and it could also take quite the beating. The chassis was very difficult to operate though, mainly due to its ability to phase shift, which pulled the titan into some alternate plane of existence for a short time, allowing for lethal ambushes.

With these titans at their disposal, Julien hoped they could take the colony with ease, but that would be unlikely. One thing he had noticed was that the colony was obscured by smoke, meaning two things. Neither the IMC or the Militia could see each other due to the smoke, and also, it meant the IMC could be hiding in the smoke, waiting to ambush the Militia forces.

***

Greg looked to his left, using the titan’s sensors to navigate through the smoke. He had been given clear instructions to hide in the smoke with a few other IMC titans, and to stay hidden until instructed to do otherwise. It was an effective strategy, but he didn’t see the point. Why not attack already? Surely the Militia would have begun the attack if they were prepared. Regardless, that was not his call to make. His job was to take orders, and as much as he hated it, he still complied.

The Militia had called in reinforcements. Lots of them. They were still outnumbered, but they had control of the hills overlooking the colony. If the IMC tried to attack right now, it would be pointless. They were simply waiting for the Militia to attack. It was clear that there were no more survivors in the colony, but the Militia wouldn’t just leave.

“You doing okay rookie?”, a pilot asked.

Holding the button down on his radio, he responded, “What the hell is taking ‘em so long?”

“I’m not sure. We’re just testing each other's patience. Seeing who will make the first move.”, the pilot answered.

“What’s the point? We know they’re here, and they know we’re here. Why not attack?”, Greg asked impatiently.

“Perhaps they don’t know we’re here, or how many of us there are. The Militia are rather cautious when it comes to these situations.”, he calmly explained.

“Well they better hurry it up or I’ll start the fight mys--”, Greg stopped as a loud crack sounded off.

A railgun shot, sounds like something is finally happening. Greg listened in on the radio once more.

“Sir, the Militia are advancing from the South and the West.”, a panicked voice said.

“Good, we prepared for this. Remember, work together, stay close.”, another voice responded.

Greg scoffed. Work together and stay close? That wasn’t his style. He was a good pilot and he knew it. He just wasn’t allowed to show it. His style was simple. Kill them, no mercy, no hesitation. Working together slowed people down.

“You ready rookie?”, the pilot from earlier asked.

Greg smirked, “Hell yea…”


End file.
